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The Mythos Threat - Degenerates
There are two key categories of degenerate beyond the standard uneducated tribesman that roam much the same territory, at least as understood by the Polity: the primitive and savage Cannibals and the inhuman Devolved, creatures that were once human, and are now something altogether less. CANNIBALS In the wilderness beyond the fringes of civilisation, man has often had to do what is necessary to survive. Inevitably cannibalism is one of the necessary evil that the desperate turned to. The Polity, however, recognises that there are certain tribes where the cannibalism appears to be very much ritualised, often going hand in hand with self-mutilation and other self-abusive acts. These cults are, in a very real sense, natural born killers, born into a society where they are expected to fight and kill if they are to survive. Typically the followers of multiple gods are more tribes than cults, motivated by a need to protect and feed their families, although there will always be individuals whose goals correspond more with the goals of specific deities. Whilst it would wrong to put all the blame on Cthulhu cultists and those who follow other dark gods, it is true that such groups had an immediate edge over those forced into a life of cannibalism for basic survival. In particular, Tcho-tchos – whose culture is very much passed through the generations as an oral tradition rather than through reference to arcane books – have made the most of these new dark ages. In their homelands, far from the Polity’s base of operation, they are one of the major tribes to be found, whilst in Europa and Amerika they are lost amongst other ethnic minorities, occasionally coming to prominence as a particularly insightful leader or adviser in a cannibal cult. There is, however, a new threat that has arisen in the 400 years since the Fall. Beneath the North Amerikan continent, the caverns of K'n-yan have long been home to a race of psychically gifted immortals, native American in appearance but extraterrestrial in origin. They were, long ago, a race that used advanced technology, but over generations their dependence on such technology waned, as they lapsed into degeneracy and hedonism. In the years since the Fall, a few of the tribal cults of Amerika have been led by strangely charismatic native Americans. Very few have witnessed the full extent of their psychic ability – the ability to communicate telepathically, to bend men’s minds to their own will and even to dematerialise and walk through solid objects. Very few that have been allowed to live, at least. Still, with many books lost to the ravages of time, many of the desperate people who’ve stumbled upon cannibalism as a means to survive have similarly stumbled upon other dark secrets independently, making their own tenuous insights and connections with the mythos without resorting to ancient legacies or journals. In turn they develop their own intimate rituals, their own mythologies and stories to fit in with their own experiences. Ironically, those cults that once depended so much on crumbling books have found themselves trapped in a wilderness that values endurance and savagery over intellectual and studious wisdom. In fact those cannibal tribes most in touch with the Great Old Ones adhere to the same values of freedom and chaos they believe their gods represent. With the evidence all around them that the end of the world is nigh, many of the cannibal tribes have learnt not to fear death and to live for the moment, throwing themselves into hunts and ritual dances/orgies with careless abandon. Some members of the Polity recognises that many of these cults and tribes make similar use of symbolism and references to spirits and gods. Possibly there is some unknown political movement behind it, some religionist agenda, some suggest, but the general consensus is that these tribes base images around basic archetypes that have proved popular with religions through-out history, such as the earth mother, or the god of the storm. The Polity as a whole does not recognise any underground movement by these isolated tribes as any sort of threat, although it has noted that certain key figures tend to come from ethnic minorities. Of course these disturbingly savage religionist movements pale in comparison to the looming religionist presence of the Yueist empire, that overshadows anything the tribes could throw at them. At least, that’s the belief. DEVOLVED The Polity has, on rare ocassions, encountered creatures that, although humanoid, can no longer be considered human. In isolated communities certain bloodlines, stricken with the fallout of the Final War, without access to purified water and quite possibly through resorting to inbreeding, have adapted physically to their wilderness homes. Whilst this may only be a small percentage –maybe 5% of all degenerates encountered – it is a significant percentage. Where once survival of the fittest pushed man towards developing tools, ensuring they could climb to the top of the food-chain, now it seems that it favours the strong, and in particular those that have adapted to the new hostile environment. The Polity considers this a step backwards in evolution, and so the general term for such freaks of nature is the Devolved. Of course, as with many things, the Polity is only half right. Yes, these creatures have their origins in humanity, but whilst the Polity believes these changes occur over generations within afflicted families, in reality the changes happen to individuals, often in a period no longer than ten years. Whilst the followers of particular gods might change gradually over time, displaying physical signs of their loyalty to inhuman masters, the Polity recognises two particularly aggressive strains of Devolution, that are officially known as Wade’s Syndrome and Kruger’s Syndrome after the two Amerikan doctors who began to catalogue them. Wade’s Syndrome, first noted by Dr Patrick Wade in the year 367, appears to be a disease that afflicts those who live along the coasts and on the banks of rivers that wind through the more inhospitable (and presumably contaminated) regions of the world. Many water systems run, unchecked, through the ruins of once great cities, carrying with them all sorts of filth and disease. And yet many people depend on these rivers for water, or even food. In many ways those afflicted families appear the very model of an isolated and inbred family, with mouth drooping just a little too wide, eyes a little too far apart and bulging from their sockets. Their builds become more heavy set – there’s often something slimey or ‘toad-like’ about them. It’s often a direct contrast to the frequently skinny undernourished look sported by survivors in the wilderness. The worst cases, of course, look a lot more like victims of a terrible wasting disease, their hair falling out, their skin becoming dry and flakey, or even scaley. The Polity view on these devolved individuals is that they are genuinely victims of some sort of contamination, that their citizens are best off avoiding contact with them. Indeed, these waterside dwellers often have dealings with pirates and some of the cannibal tribes that linger along the coastlines so it’s rare that the Polity will seek to contact these devolved people. On the whole the party would rather the whole sorry lot of them were exterminated. The threat is greater than the Polity truly understand. For one there is the potential for the tainted bloodline to surface within the territories of the Polity. If there has been any recorded presence of anyone within the party demonstrating signs of Wade’s Syndrome, it is most likely that it is an issue that has been… dealt with. Additionally the victims of Wade’s Syndrome are not directly connected with the large inhuman monsters that they will one day become, the Deep Ones. Mature Deep Ones tend to prefer the waters to dry land, or cool shadow to scorching sunlight, and so when encountered they are normally only half glimpsed, and frequently difficult to escape. These Deep Ones are able to make good use of the sewers and flooded streets of abandoned cities, and they can navigate and swim through these waterways in order to get a foothold in places otherwise inaccessible. In this manner they are slowly claiming more territory and establishing further ties amongst the humans, be it through teaching them magic and a arcane lore or simply trading ancient treasures for the rights to breed with the women folk of desperate communities. The Polity knows nothing of this – only that there are things in the shadows best avoided. In many ways they are more an urban myth than a perceived threat, particularly amongst the ruins of flooded pre-war settlements. And yet reports of fully-formed Deep Ones are rare in comparison with the Polity’s other bogeyman, the victims of Kruger’s Syndrome. First documented by a Dr James Kruger in the year 176, the feral creatures that follow in the wake of the cannibals have long been observed, but never really understood. Typically they appear more bestial than human. Specifically their faces become more canine, with a pronounced snout and sharp teeth. Dr Kruger deduced that these creatures were humans that, originally, in the wake of the Final War, desperately sought food from an conceivable source, even gnawing on the bones of the long dead. He drew the conclusion that the afflicted bloodlines had found their niche in nature as predators and scavengers, possessing sharp teeth and strong jaws for attacking, holding, and tearing their food. Their habit of feeding on the dead is ‘recognised’ as a reluctance to hunt or challenge other creatures, feeding from scraps left by stronger predators rather than their preference for dead flesh. For this reason they are often seen as the poorer cousins to the more widely acknowledged cannibal tribes. The Polity has had few dealings with sufferers of Kruger’s Syndrome beyond small groups, and more often than not these are younger specimens. There have been few sightings of fully formed, cloven hooved Ghouls, and of those the details are never clear. In most cases it is the slavering jaws and inhuman meeping that is remembered, or the overwhelming stench of the grave. . There are actually sizeable communities of Ghouls in the ruins of many once great cities. In general, Ghouls also build massive warrens in the remains of these cities ancient subways and sewers, not to mention the basement levels of buildings long destroyed. Whilst the cemeteries have long been stripped bare of their precious corpses, the city still serve as a lure to the foolish and desperate, and the Ghouls can feast happily on those that fall in the frequent battles between tribal factions. Ghouls and cannibals often come to an understanding over the remains of victims, with Ghouls happy to gnaw on the bones of the dead that have already been stripped of their flesh. The world has changes a lot since the fall, and many cities are completely changed. Places where pumps once kept the water table well away from the surface no longer work, resulting in the flooding of many cities built on lower ground. This limits the subterranean activities of the Ghouls to some extent, but it has brought them into direct contact with the Deep Ones. The two races have better alliances with human cults than with each other, which is perhaps fortunate. Were they to unite the end of the world would come all the sooner. As it is both races are beings of two worlds. Whilst they both share a human heritage, their alien nature is as alien to each other as it is to us. The Deep Ones enjoy the depths of the oceans, covering the majority of the planet yet hidden from land-dwellers. The Ghouls tunnel into the Dreamlands from their underground burrows, and it’s possible there are many hundreds more connections to that other realm than there were before. What effect this might have on the real world is uncertain…